THE FORMER ACTOR and renowned theatre director Vincent Dowling has died, aged 83.
The Emmy award-winning director worked at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin for over 35 years and led productions of The Playboy of the Western World which earned worldwide acclaim.
His production of the play for PBS in American won an Emmy in the 90s. He also led the national theatre on its first tours to Russia and Hong Kong, working as an actor, director and artistic director at the Abbey from 1953 to 1990.
The current director of the Abbey Theatre, Fiach MacConghail, paid tribute to Dowling today, saying: “Vincent Dowling was an actor’s director – having been an actor himself he understood the craft of acting.
“I know he will be fondly remembered by many of the greats of Irish acting who worked with him. He was also a great business man and played an instrumental role in raising funds for the portico on the front of the Abbey Theatre building.
Dowling had been living in the US where he is survived by his second wife Olwen O’Herlihy Dowling, their children and grandchildren.
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